Palm oil on the European vegetable oils market was slightly firmer on the back of a strong ringgit, which caused Malaysian palm oil futures to edge lower. A strong ringgit makes palm oil more expensive for foreign buyers, which could dampen export demand.
Asking prices for palm oil were mostly between unchanged and $5 a tonne up from Thursday after Malaysian palm oil futures closed between 10 ringgit per tonne lower and 13 ringgit higher. At 1830 GMT, CBOT soyaoil futures were between 0.30 and 0.42 cents per lb higher on dry Argentine weather concerns and due to technical buying.
EU rapeoil was quoted between four and five euros per tonne higher on the back of gains in Chicago soyaoil and because of a recovering dollar, which underpins euro-priced products. Dollar strength and the slightly weaker tone in palm oil futures weighed on lauric oils. Asking prices were between $10 and $35 a tonne down from Thursday. The spread between coconut oil and the cheaper palmkernel oil narrowed to $100 a tonne for February/March shipment.